Well adapted soil

http://bible.com/8/mrk.4.8-9.amp And other seed [of the same kind] fell into good (well-adapted) soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing, and yielded up to thirty times as much, and sixty times as much, and even a hundred times as much as had been sown. And He said, He who has ears to hear, let him be hearing [and let him consider, and comprehend]. Bible.com/app

Romans 15:1-5, 13 AMP

WE WHO are strong [in our convictions and of robust faith] ought to bear with the failings and the frailties and the tender scruples of the weak; [we ought to help carry the doubts and qualms of others] and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us make it a practice to please (make happy) his neighbor for his good and for his true welfare, to edify him [to strengthen him and build him up spiritually]. For Christ did not please Himself [gave no thought to His own interests]; but, as it is written, The reproaches and abuses of those who reproached and abused you fell on Me. [Ps. 69:9.] For whatever was thus written in former days was written for our instruction, that by [our steadfast and patient] endurance and the encouragement [drawn] from the Scriptures we might hold fast to and cherish hope. Now may the God Who gives the power of patient endurance (steadfastness) and Who supplies encouragement, grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.

He walks our mile "just because"

Luke 24:13-35

On the Road to Emmaus

13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles^a from Jerusalem. 14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him.

17He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. 18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

19“What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

25He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Nothing refreshes a relationship more than surprise and show of concern; even stern correction from ones we love lets us know they care. Why? They care enough to be there to say and do what's needful rather than what is expedient.

Journeying to Emmaeus, two travelers replayed in lively discussion the timeline of Christ's passion. They'd heard it all, the women seeing the empty tomb along with firsthand accounts of Christ's appearances to the Eleven and doubting Thomas. Whether they were part of the seventy or mere fringe followers, we don't know; but from their lively back and forth regarding Christ's Passion (They reasoned, doubtless, about the probability or improbability that Jesus was the Messiah; about the evidence of his resurrection; about what was to be done in the present state of things Barnes Notes on the Bible), doubt and fear pervaded at least one of them regarding the truth of this Anointed One. Was it all a myth? These unsettled travelers needed Christ to give them eyes to believe his words.


The imperfect voice used here tells us Christ was fully human to them as his presence, walking and talking with them, seemed nothing out of the ordinary Meyer's NT Commentary. He walked and talked with them as they expressed their doubt, fear, even despair over the things which occurred during Passion week. His part was first to listen earfully (new word in the making) to the concerns that made for their increased heart palpitation. Walking their mile and hearing the blemish and blight circumventing pure faith; he opted to upbraid them verbally. "Fools" (harsh translation) is what he called them Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. His point was that they were slow to place believing confidence in his promise to rise. Meyer's NT Commentary Like a wife, who speaks lovingly but is first to give her husband an earful; Christ admonished them, knowing their knowledge of the OT and its anticipation-Christ. Matthew Henry puts it best, Our weak faith keeps us from accessing the comfort Christ offers. Christ's part here before the Promise (Spirit) came was to be their strength; he wills us into believing his words and is careful to ensure that he illumines us in a time and way that lasts a lifetime. His words to them echoed his heart to see them live by the life in his words. Senseless even stupid were they to believe that Christ could be held by death. His words to them were to warm their faith, underscore their unbelief, and express surprise at their doubt/questions regarding his resurrection.

His way with them had evident impact. The moment he came into view as not mere man but bread from heaven; faith-life filled them once more. Having eyes, they saw the star of OT prophesy, the very Prophet of Deuteronomy. With illumed eyes and awakened souls, they marched back to Jerusalem and with breaded excitement told the Eleven,
“It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

Luke 24 NIV
27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

In our doubt, he shadows near us
When we wander, trudging with us
When our feeble hearts spurn him
He seek us constant, yearning his
Yes, we threaten, despise, desert him
But his eyes for us unflinching
Will to keep us in his fold
So he comforts, chides, and scolds
When time is ripe he says,
How could you? I'm the one, who never left you, calm wayfarer, comfort, still
Abide in me-trust my will

May the life ours for his rising from the dead meet us in our doubt, despair, and desperation and fill us with grace to trust him with the details of our lives, knowing his hand is on us to deepen our faith, broaden our reach, and keep us on path to making real his resurrection and reign in us.

 

Wallow in his words to not wallow in willful sin

Luke 24:1-12 New International Version

 

The angels, who appeared to the Shepherds, first to hear and see Christ, boy King, in Bethlehem; had a important reminder in message to these women, first to hear and see the empty tomb of the resurrected Christ.

 

 

Jesus Has Risen

1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8Then they remembered his words.

9When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
24:1-12 See the affection and respect the women showed to Christ, after he was dead and buried. Observe their surprise when they found the stone rolled away, and the grave empty. Christians often perplex themselves about that with which they should comfort and encourage themselves. They look rather to find their Master in his grave-clothes, than angels in their shining garments. The angels assure them that he is risen from the dead; is risen by his own power. These angels from heaven bring not any new gospel, but remind the women of Christ's words, and teach them how to apply them. We may wonder that these disciples, who believed Jesus to be the Son of God and the true Messiah, who had been so often told that he must die, and rise again, and then enter into his glory, who had seen him more than once raise the dead, yet should be so backward to believe his raising himself. But all our mistakes in religion spring from ignorance or forgetfulness of the words Christ has spoken. Peter now ran to the sepulchre, who so lately ran from his Master. He was amazed. There are many things puzzling and perplexing to us, which would be plain and profitable, if we rightly understood the words of Christ.

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Remember his words

LUK 24:1-8 MSG

At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus. They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.

One of the most important realizations we must come to in the wake of what happened after Christ rose from the grave is the onus on us to remember his words.

The Evangelist Luke tells that woman came deep in the morning or at twilight (Meyer). They came, with hearts broken and eyes bloodshot, to meet the one they'd known as life, who'd been taken from them at the hands of me-driven men.

The Evangelist tells us they came at the cracks of dawn.

"Sorrow and love are light sleepers, and early dawn found these women on their way." (MacLaren's Expositions)

The possibility of his rising alive from the death was "heard, but not heard" (MacLaren) and in their mind theirs was the obvious duty to show love, though Joseph of Arimathea had already taken on himself the duties of embalming Christ's dead corpse.

"These women's love gift was as 'useless' and as fragrant as Mary's box of ointment. [But] whatever love offers, love welcomes, though Judah may ask 'To what purpose is this waste'?" (MacLaren's Expositions)

With heavy hearts and legs they came early to the tomb to add their part to his intricately embalmed body. Though these actions were somewhat darkened by their failure to remember well his word that he'd rise to life on the third day; the very angels, who rolled the stone away to evidence Christ's rising from the dead at his word (Christ had already walked right through the tomb door) would serenade them as they did others at Christ's birth in Bethlehem.

Interstingly, their message to these winsome women, first to the tomb, was half a rebuke, [but] wholly a revelation. Though they'd forgotten that this subject and star of prophesy-Christ-could not be held indefinitely by death but would break its shackles in time, rising alive; God's way was to affirm their good intentions and honor them with the distinct privilege of being first witness to the empty tomb and the angels, who rolled the stone away at his rising from the dead. God's way in growing us is to affirm us even while revealing to us our sin.
God bedazzled these woman into a more fervent belief in his word, he emboldened their faith to receive his words by faith as he does time and time again in our lives. The wonder of his work helps us better treasure his worth and word to us.

"The message flooded the women's hearts with better light than [the angels' garments] had spread through the tomb."
(MacLaren's Expositions)

God give us ears to hear your word. As the nickler, knows the sound of a rightly made nickel; may we live attune to your voice-ready to hear it, rejoice in it, and act on it consistently. May we be known as a people, who believe and live out your words. May we remember your words, for they are life and light.